'Star Wars' Roundup: Abrams on Series Direction, Plus What Big Name Actor Wants to Be in the Movie?

Mondays can be a bit of a downer, but if there’s one thing that gets the work week off to a good start around here, it’s a massive Star Wars update. Today we’ve got J.J. Abrams talking about the direction of his new film, an actor who says he’d love to join the cast, and a cute video featuring Darth Vader and a few Stormtroopers invading Japan.

As we get closer to the release of Star Trek Into Darkness, J.J, Abrams is going to be doing a lot of interviews, and we’d bet that he’s going to spend almost as much time in those interviews talking about Episode VII as he does his second (and presumably final) voyage with Captain Kirk.

Empire Online recently sat down with the filmmaker, who spoke openly about the direction he has in mind for the iconic series while acknowledging that Steven Spielberg helped get him on board with the project.

When asked about the direction, Abrams had this to say:

“I don’t know because we’re just getting started. So it’s a great question that I hope I’ll have a good answer to when I know what the answer is. There are infinitely more questions than answers right now, but to me, they’re not that dissimilar. Though I came at these both from very different places, where they both meet is a place of ‘Ooh, that’s really exciting.’ And even though I was never a Star Trek fan, I felt like there was a version of it that would make me excited, that I would think ‘that’s cool, that feels right, I actually would want to see that.'”

There’s more fuel for the Star Trek fanboy fire…

He then ties it back into Star Wars, adding:

“It’s a similar feeling that I have with Star Wars. I feel like I can identify a hunger for what I would want to see again and that is an incredibly exciting place to begin a project. The movies, the worlds could not be more different but that feeling that there’s something amazing here is the thing that they share.”

Perhaps even more interesting is Abrams talking about how he finally decided to take the job of reviving the franchise. As you’ll probably remember, the filmmaker turned the gig down originally. He explains why to Empire.

“My knee-jerk reaction was that I’m in the middle of working on the Star Trek movie and I can’t even consider it. But then time went by and I got further along working on the movie and getting to a place where I had done most of the heavy lifting. So when I met with Kathy Kennedy we just started discussing it and I was able to actually engage in the conversation. I went down to tell Katie, my wife, and I said ‘I had just a very interesting conversation with Kathy.’ That was the beginning. I will say that Steven [Spielberg] was very encouraging of Star Wars. It’s funny because I talked to him about it and it turned out he knew all about what was going on.”

Lens-flare jokes aside, we’re mostly happy it worked out this way. We could have done a lot worse than a Star Wars film made by J.J. Abrams.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson Wants to Be in a Star Wars Sequel

Pro wrestler and action star Dwayne Johnson is out doing press for G.I. Joe: Retaliationand Cinemablend convinced the actor to talk about a wide range of topics in a recent interview. Johnson has apparently earned the nickname “franchise Viagra” for his ability to breathe new life into a tired series, and the website asked him if there was a franchise out there he’d really want to be a part of.

“Oh easily. Star Wars. And that’s not to say that they need it. Obviously they’re doing very well. And J.J. [Abrams] is just gonna crush it. I’m so excited. There’s a guy, by the way, who’s not just a brilliant director, but honors and respects mythology. You’ve seen that with Star Trek and you’re going to see that with Star Wars. I’m very excited about that.”

Again, we suspect the Trek fanboys might take exception to that whole “honors and respects the mythology” thing…

At any rate, it seems unlikely that we’ll be seeing the Rock in Episode VII, but stranger things have happened.

Vader Invades Japan in New Disney Video

Finally, we close this roundup with a funny little video from The Disney Blog designed to promote the Star Tours: The Adventure Continues attraction coming to Disneyland Tokyo.

In this viral clip, Vader and two Stormtroopers tour Japan with some amusing results. Check it out below, and then take a peek at a second, shorter clip here.

Movies.com, the ultimate source for everything movies, is your destination for new movie trailers, reviews, photos, times, tickets + more! Stay in the know with the latest movie news and cast interviews at Movies.com.